The Vānaprastha Adventure, Installment 5
Śrīla Prabhupāda, throughout his books, says that by the age of fifty (or shortly thereafter) one should accept the vānaprastha āśrama. As Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “The system of varṇāśrama-dharma, or sanātana-dharma, prescribes retirement from family encumbrances as early as possible after one has passed fifty years of age.”[1]
Śrīla Prabhupāda often quotes the statement pañcāśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet: “After the age of fifty years, one must go to the forest.” This means accepting the vānaprastha āśrama. One need not go out to the middle of the woods somewhere. As Śrīla Prabhupāda says, in this day the “forest” more suitable to go to is Vṛndāvana, or more generally the vānaprastha āśrama. And the ultimate purpose is to take full shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.[2]
The verb vrajet is in the imperative mood, indicating “one must.”[3] Leaving householder life is not optional—one must do it. As Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote, “The Vedic civilization. . . enjoins that at the end of one’s fiftieth year one must give up household life. This is compulsory.”[4]
Śrīla Prabhupāda often made this point—so often, in fact, that rather than quote him extensively here, I’ll gather statements from him about this in an appendix.
Making the same point about compulsory retirement, the Manu-saṁhitā (6.2) says that when a householder “sees his skin wrinkled, his hair turned gray, and his children’s children,” he should accept the vānaprastha āśrama.[5]
How much time do we have left?
How long can we expect to live? Of course, we don’t know that we will live even another two minutes. But for the United States (other countries may differ), here are the averages.[6] At birth the average life expectancy for men is 76.1 years, for women 81.1. If you’ve reached fifty, your total lifetime is expected to last a bit longer: Men can add an extra 3.7 years, women an extra 2.3. That is, on average we expect fifty-year-old men to have roughly 30 years left, women 33.
Keep in mind, though, that “life expectancy” does not equal “active life.” In old age we could spend years confined to a room or a bed or a rocking chair, with someone spoon-feeding us our applesauce and making sure we take our meds.
We should therefore leave home before we get too decrepit to do it. Fifty is a good year. While we still have some strength and still have our wits about us, let’s go.
The instructions are meant for us
Citing Prahlāda Mahārāja, Śrīla Prabhupāda speaks strongly: “Prahlāda Mahārāja said that one should retire from family life as soon as possible, and he described family life as the darkest well (hitvātma-pātaṁ gṛham andha-kūpam). If one continuously or permanently concentrates on living with his family, he should be understood to be killing himself. In the Vedic civilization, therefore, it is recommended that one retire from family life at the end of his fiftieth year and go to vana, the forest. When he becomes expert or accustomed to forest life, or retired life as a vānaprastha, he should accept sannyāsa. Vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta. Sannyāsa means accepting unalloyed engagement in the service of the Lord. Vedic civilization therefore recommends four different stages of life—brahmacārya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. One should be very much ashamed of remaining a householder and not promoting oneself to the two higher stages, namely vānaprastha and sannyāsa.”[7]
The instruction to retire from family life is not meant to apply only in some outdated historical contexts or reflect only some distant ideal. It’s meant for us, for the present devotees of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We must do this. As Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote in the 1970’s:
It is not that a gṛhastha should live at home until he dies. . . . In the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement there are many young couples engaged in the Lord’s service. Eventually they are supposed to take vānaprastha, and after the vānaprastha stage the husband may take sannyāsa in order to preach. The wife may then remain alone and serve the Deity or engage in other activities within the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.[8]
Yes, I know there may be exceptional circumstances. But this is the basic instruction.
Notes:
[1] Bhāgavatam 2.1.16, purport.
[2] Vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta. Bhāgavatam 7.5.5. See also, for example, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purports to Bhāgavatam 3.24.41 and 4.8.24.
[3] The same imperative mood appears with the verb gacchet in the injunction from the Upanisads tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: “To get the full benefit of spiritual understanding, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master.” (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12) Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, “This is a Sanskrit grammatical injunction. When there is the question of imperative—‘you must’—there vidhi-liṅ, this form of verb, is used.” (lecture, August 10, 1966, New York)
[4] Bhāgavatam 6.5.36, purport.
[5] gṛhasthas tu yadā paśyed dalīpalitam ātmanaḥ
apatyasyaiva cāpatyaṃ tadāranyaṁ samāśrayet
I have generally used the translations by Patrick Olivelle but have sometimes modified them. Again, samāśrayet is in the imperative mood: “one must.” Commentators on the Manu-saṁhitā are divided about whether Manu’s injunction requires that all three conditions be met (wrinkled skin, grey hair, and one’s children’s children) or whether one is enough. Some say the point is simply that one should be old—fifty or so. (Kane, History of Dharmaśāstra, p. 918) In any case, to free oneself timely from family life is a must.
[6] From National Vital Statistics Reports, Volume 68, Number 9 (June 24, 2019), p. 25. For updated statistics see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/nvsr.htm or https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/index.htm.
[7] Bhāgavatam 9.19.2, purport.
[8] Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 24.259, purport.
This is part of a draft
This is an excerpt from a new book I have in the works—The Vānaprastha Adventure, a guide to retirement in spiritual life. While I’m working on it, I’ll be posting my draft here, in installments. I invite your comments, questions, and suggestions.
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